This Week: Rail museum to host best in facial foliage

Mustaches, beards, goatees – sure, you think you know what those are. What about a verdi or a garibaldi?

Facial hair has made a serious comeback in the past few years, particularly among hipsters of the PBR-slugging variety. These aren’t guys who just didn’t bother shaving for a while; they’re guys with foot-long thickets of hair carefully divided into multiple points at the bottom, or mustaches waxed and curled like a vaudeville villain’s.

Some prime specimens will be on display Saturday evening, when The Moustache & Beard Social Club of Sacramento holds its third annual Northern California Beard and Moustache Competition at the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento. The venue can accommodate 500 people for the event, which runs from 5 to 9 p.m. and is sponsored by Lagunitas Brewing Co. The club predicts a sellout.

Competitors will vie for awards in 15 categories, including a “whiskerina” category for homemade fake beards worn by women. A portion of the ticket proceeds will go to support the museum. For more information, go to http://tinyurl.com/mbsc-comp.

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IN THE NEWS

Free play on French Resistance at UC Davis theater

The French theater company Prospero Miranda will perform the play “Je reviens de la vérité (I return from the truth)” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Wright Hall’s Main Theater at UC Davis. The play – performed in French with English subtitles – is free to the public, thanks to the university’s German, Russian, and French and Italian departments, as well as professor David Biale, the Emanuel Ringelblum Distinguished Professor of Jewish History.

Behind the News: The play is an adaptation of playwright Charlotte Delbo’s work “Qui rapportera ces paroles? (Who will tell this story?),” and recounts the emotions and memories of women of the French Resistance, the people who fought against the Nazi occupation of France.

The Sacramento Metro Chamber hosts its sixth annual State of RT Breakfast from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Hyatt Regency, 1209 L St., where RT General Manager Mike Wiley will share the successes, challenges and long-term goals of the bus and light-rail system with community and business leaders.

Behind the News: RT also will honor the year’s “TransitAction Award” recipients, a group of five individuals and organizations that will be recognized for their impact on public transit. Township 9, which integrated transit principles into its development of new residential and business districts now under construction north of downtown, is this year’s Transit Oriented Development of the Year.

The momentum of a record-setting 2013 in California export trade did not carry over into 2014, as in-state businesses shipped merchandise valued at $12.87 billion in January, up just 2 percent from $12.61 billion in January 2013. On Thursday, consulting firm Beacon Economics will break down February’s totals based on national export figures released by the U.S. Commerce Department.

AROUND TOWN

Group offers free civics classes, English practice

The International Rescue Committee continues to offer free civics classes and English language practice geared toward people preparing to interview and take the test for U.S. citizenship. All interested parties are welcome, but people intending to enroll in the courses should be in possession of a green card for at least 41/2 years. Classes at the Folsom Public Library, 411 Stafford St., take place every Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon at least through June 30. Classes are also available on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Arcade Library, 2443 Marconi Ave., from 3:30 to 6 p.m. through Sept. 25, and at the rescue committee’s offices, 2020 Hurley Way, Suite 395, in Sacramento, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Info: (916) 482-0120

Nevada City honors Paralympian Evan Strong

The Nevada City Chamber of Commerce notes the city will host a parade Tuesday for Evan Strong, the 27-year-old who won the gold medal in men’s snowboard cross at the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, on March 14. Pre-event festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. The parade down Broad Street begins at 6 p.m. Afterward, the festivities continue at the Miners Foundry, 325 Spring St., with food, music, and autograph and photo opportunities with Strong.

‘Show Your Work!’ author visits Sacramento library

Austin Kleon, author of the best-seller “Steal Like an Artist,” will be available for book signings at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Sacramento Central Library, 828 I St., for his new book, “Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered.”

Info: (916) 264-2770

Central Library offers an April Fool’s history lesson

The Sacramento Public Library marks April Fool’s Day with its third annual lecture by historians James Scott and Amanda Graham at the Central Library, 828 I St., at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The free event will be steeped in the tradition of the day, with the library noting the lecturers will offer “wild fabrications” as they speak “with vivid manner upon incredible occurrences in Sacramento history.”

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